


The Master and His Student

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Dooku the Rat [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 01:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7199021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoda goes to visit with the prisoner at last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Master and His Student

Yoda arrived at the security cell, looking at the guardians set there. As with all dedicated Temple guardians, they gave no sign of their identity in armor or dress, and Yoda pretended he did not know them by their feel in the Force. Both were new to the position, and had not learned to blank themselves completely.

"Speak with your guest, I will," he told them both. "Remain without, you will."

They nodded slightly and allowed him to pass into the first barrier, sealing it, before Yoda could enter the actual cell behind the other barrier. Dooku looked up from the screen he had been reading on and gave a tight smile.

"Ahh, now you have time for me, after how long, my old Master?" Dooku asked, half-taunting, half-chiding.

"Patience, Dooku, was not your failing, I recall." Yoda settled himself into the chair opposite Dooku, across the small table. Dooku folded the skeletal prosthetic hands in front of him, watching Yoda for a long moment.

"Why are you here?" the elderly human finally asked, as his patience stretched thinner than he wanted to admit, especially in the light of Yoda's comment on it.

"Desire what of this, I come to ask?" Yoda looked at Dooku intently. "Power was the goal, you said. Now, power is gone."

"So it is, so it is." Dooku leaned back and watched the small being with contemplation. "I knew I did not want to be killed by your snarling gundark. I refused to be the sacrifice to complete the Fall."

"Certain, you are, that he is so close to the Fall, our young Skywalker," Yoda said, encouraging Dooku to share more of his thoughts.

"The boy is more than half on the path, and if you cannot see that now that Sidious is dead, you have been willfully blind!" Dooku informed him. "The rage that flows through him is a gale compared to the breeze of my anger."

Yoda considered that, then nodded briefly. "Addressed, it will be. But, of you, I came to speak."

Dooku shook his head. "There is nothing for me. Your healers graciously have given back what the boy took from me. I am to remain in custody of the Temple while the Senate debates my future. And that, at least, is the rest of my life, for they have taken the death sentence off the negotiation table due to my extensive collection of recordings to prove Sidious was your Chancellor.

"However, I am not sanguine about living my life in prison either. Perhaps I should have let the boy end it," Dooku considered. 

Yoda huffed air at him. "Never the victim, you." Yoda settled back in his seat, appraising his former student. "History, and avoiding the repetition of mistakes, of interest to you, it is. Consider a task, working with Master Nu, to avoid a Republic only narrative of this war, you should."

Dooku's eyes lit with the challenge implicit in that. "You assume that the Jedi will be allowed to maintain my imprisonment, my old Master," he said in the heartbeat after Yoda offered him that spark of hope.

"Arranged, it could be. Partnered, always, with her, or another, to maintain security, would be the necessity."

That made Dooku consider the ramifications. "You are speaking of making me commit to a full bond with someone, in order to both be able to track my whereabouts and incapacitate me should I have my watcher killed," he said aloud. The other person would always know where he was and what he was doing. When one died, so would the other, which meant the watcher would be taking a great risk. Many, many people would prefer to have Dooku dead, after all.

"Such would be my idea, yes," Yoda stated. "Of Master Nu, you were fond at one time. Appreciate help with the Archives, she would."

Dooku nodded; he and Jocasta had been something of a fierce team in their youth. If she were amenable, he would work with her, but the idea of being so deeply bound to another sentient chafed. 

_Your compassion and attachment to others will be your downfall_ he'd once told his own strong-willed student.

 _Or it may be my salvation,_ Qui-Gon had stubbornly retorted, before they had officially severed their partnership and the gifted man had been made a Knight.

Outliving Qui-Gon, more than any other connection in Dooku's past, honestly stung. What did he even have to show for it? HIs bid for power was at an end. With neither himself nor Sidious to spur the Separatists along, the war would crumble.

"I will consider your words, Master Yoda," Dooku said carefully.

"More, I cannot ask." Yoda pushed to his feet to leave. "These visits, do you wish them of me?"

"Yes," Dooku agreed. "We can begin debating your philosophy against my own, if you like."

"So be it."

The ancient Master left the cell, and Dooku settled to read, even as his mind turned over the opening that Yoda had given him to a possible life as a prisoner with ability to effect change. For in letting him access to the historical files, Yoda had made it possible to insure the future generations saw how neglect and indifference was just as certain to breed corruption as the abuse of power.


End file.
